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Higgs Monaghan
Higgs Monaghan, also known as the "Man in the Golden Mask", is the secondary antagonist of Death Stranding, ''serving as the primary antagonist of the first half of the game. He is the leader of the militant separatist group known as the Homo Demens. Story Higgs founded the militant separatist group known as the Homo Demens, who oppose the United Cities of America and seek to maintain the independence of Edge Knot City. At some point, Higgs appears before Sam and manifests a large, four-legged creature, issuing the deliveryman a challenge: avoid being eaten. At another point, Higgs somehow captures Amelie, appropriates her golden necklace, and has another confrontation with Sam while carrying her. Higgs claims to understand the truth of the Death Stranding, stating that it's hard for people to form connections when they are unable to shake hands. Personality Higgs is shown to be very smug and prideful about his work, evidenced when he brags about his connection to the "other side". He is also shown to be flamboyant, charismatic, and sarcastic when speaking with Sam, taunting Sam by asking "Sound like fun?" after throwing a perilous challenge the deliveryman's way. At some point, Higgs captures Fragile and forcefully licks her face. His predatory nature is further demonstrated when he sets a large, four-legged creature onto Sam for seemingly no other reason than to serve as an obstacle for the deliveryman. Abilities With his golden mask, Higgs is able to summon Hunter BTs in the form of chiralium, and subsequently a Catcher BT to attack Sam. Furthermore, he is shown to be able to control the weather in the form of timefalls; Higgs points his hand upwards to the sky in the shape of a gun, and fires off a blast into the clouds, triggering the timefall almost immediately afterwards. Higgs has additionally demonstrated the ability to teleport to seemingly any location well-nigh instantaneously. Higgs claims to have a good connection to the "other side". Notes In-universe * Higgs carries a portable tank with a fetus-shaped figure inside. Rather than emitting an orange-yellow glow when activated, as the bridge baby's tank does, his portable tank emits a red one. The bottom casing of Higgs' tank is also green, rather than orange like the bridge baby's. * Underneath his golden mask, Higgs wears another black mask. * The scenes where Higgs vanishes while his golden mask remains, resemble similar scenes in "Alice in Wonderland"; where the Cheshire Cat vanishes while it's grin remains floating where it was. This gives credence to Death Stranding's allusion to the notion of the "trace" (see also the umbilical cords that connect animals that died in the Big Five extinction events, to the Beach). The "trace" is a concept that has been described by many philosophers. Out-of-universe * Higgs first appeared in the TGA 2017 teaser trailer, pointing out to Sam and the Corpse Disposal Team 6 operatives the presence of BTs. He again appeared in a short TGS 2018 trailer. His name was officially revealed in the 2019 release date reveal trailer. * Both Troy Baker and Satoshi Mikami previously voiced Ocelot in ''Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain; however, according to Kojima, their voicing the same character again was merely a coincidence. * Higgs is fully modeled after the likeness of Troy Baker, whose credited roles rarely have him portraying characters with his likeness. * Higgs shares his name with one of the equations of Sam's necklace, namely the equation. * To add to previous note, the Higgs field is often described as a field that "gives mass" to objects in our universe. This may allude to the role Higgs plays in the game; as main antagonist. The story would not have much meaning without a figure to project antagonism onto, which parallels the scientific communities' "explanation" of object mass as a consequence of the Higgs Field's existence. In other words, both Higgs in "Death Stranding" and the Higgs Field theory in the real world are a "mask" or metaphor for the underlying unravelable nature of truth. This may be what Jacques Lacan called his "objet petit a". The "matheme"-atical letter that gives direction to our lives, and yet in-itself does not posses any tangible truth content. It is the symbol that holds onto the Real "through it's very impossibility" as Lacan would put it. Gallery Concept art of Higgs Higgs trailer introduction.jpg Higgs unmasked }} References }} de:Higgs es:Higgs Category:Characters